(meteorobs) Re: late Geminid?

[Robert Lunsford]

Richard and All,

The Geminid swarm is fairly narrow and the Earth passes through the debris 
field for only ten days. Therefore the fireball you witnessed could not be a 
member of the Geminid shower. Even if the Geminids were still active the 
radiant would have moved into Cancer so any meteor from the area of Castor 
would not be a Geminid.

More likely, your fireball was a member of the antihelion radiant, which is 
currently centered in central Gemini. Unlike the Geminids, this shower has a 
wide radiant stretching fifteen degrees in right ascension and ten degrees 
in declination. The velocity is only slightly less than the Geminids so 
these meteors could appear similar.

I hope this helps!

Robert Lunsford



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Kramer" <kramer at sria.com>
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 10:23 AM
Subject: (meteorobs) late Geminid?


> While walking the dog this morning at 05:30 UTC (12:30 AM EST 29 Dec) my 
> eyes happened to be directed towards the right place at the right time to 
> see an absolutely beautiful mag -3, blue/white meteor descend through 
> about 30 degrees to the southern horizon. Alignment, was perfect for the 
> Geminid radiant. Speed and appearance were completely consistent with the 
> Geminids. This was either a highly coincidental sporadic or a late 
> straggler from the Geminid shower.
>
> Regards,
> Richard